The mother of a seventh-grader at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School has filed a lawsuit against administrators at the South Laurel school, claiming her daughter was barred from reading the Bible during lunch period and threatened with punishment if she did it again.
In her complaint, filed Sept. 29, Maryann Mangum of Laurel, the grandmother and adoptive mother of 13-year-old Amber Mangum, claimed the administrators’ actions were a violation of Amber’s First Amendment rights and of the school system’s own policy.
"Contrary to the fundamental liberties enshrined in the United States and Maryland Constitutions, Amber Mangum was ordered, under threat of disciplinary action, to cease reading her personal Bible during her lunch period," the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, states.
"Despite requests that the order be withdrawn, the Defendants have refused to renounce the warning that Amber will be disciplined if she reads her Bible at school."
The incident that sparked the lawsuit occurred Sept. 14, when Amber Mangum was reading her Bible during lunch period. According to the lawsuit, students at Eisenhower often read books during lunch period, and Amber "is a Christian and takes great comfort in reading the Bible."
But when Assistant Principal Jeanette Rainey saw what Amber was doing, the lawsuit states, she informed the student that reading the Bible violated school policy and that if she did it again, she would be disciplined.
Maybe we need a new line of Bible covers. Kind of like hiding comic books within the cover of a magazine. In this case the perfect fake cover would be a Koran cover. You just know students wouldn’t be bothered if it looked like they were reading a Koran. Same goes for people with Bibles out in the open at work that get harassed about it.
Baker sent a letter to school administrators complaining about their actions, and attaching a copy of the Prince George’s County school system’s administrative procedures, which state: "Students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray before tests to the same extent they may engage in comparable, non-disruptive activities."
When administrators did not respond to the letter, the lawsuit states, Maryann Mangum, at the suggestion of a friend from church, contacted the Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville, Va.-based, civil liberties organization that handles cases involving religious liberties.
Rutherford President John Whitehead said he also sent a letter to school administrators, telling them their policy was a violation of civil rights and asking them to allow Amber to read her Bible.
When administrators did not respond, he said, attorneys filed the lawsuit.
11 comments
That is a great story read that Christians are able to fight back now instead of remaining silent and taking it like a good Christian. Jesus did not ask us to be masochists.
Jesus expected us to stand for God. He warned we would be persecuted.
We must all hide our Bibles in Playboy covers, Cosmo, The DaVinci Code, The Koran, the Kama Sutra, etc.
Yep – only Bible readers and Christian prayers are persecuted these days. I’m sure if you spread out a prayer rug, faced east, and said prayers at the designated times in Arabic you would be studiously accommodated.
Good for the grandmother to launch the suit. We all should be praying for her victory. Maybe a few more such well published will put a stop to all of this nonsense that has been allowed to go way too far.
Modern logic:
“The repressive dominant paradigm needs to tolerate, and condone, everything it has opposed. To show solidarity to its historical victims, it must repress itself in all things. The subjugated demographics also get to repress the majority demographics because it’s only unfair when someone else does it to you.”
Good- I hope they get spanked for at least a cool million.
This is a typical example of public school teachers acting on their personal animus against Christianity and/or fear of the ACLU in threatening or sanctioning students who act on their faith. It is ironic that some schools are requiring students to participate in a “Respect Islam” month and on the other hand show such disrespect for Christianity.
BTW~
WESTSIDE COMMUNITY BD. OF ED. v. MERGENS, 496 U.S. 226 (1990)
(http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=CASE&court=US&vol=496&page=226)
which held that school districts are barred from prohibiting students from forming Bible study clubs if they permit any other extra-curricular activities or clubs.
It’s sad that a lawsuit is the only way to make people pay attention in cases like these.
Don’t they have enough problems with knives, guns, drugs and bullies that they have to go after a kid reading?
Mr. Hoffer, that wasn’t a public school teacher. It was an administrator – evidentally of the type that think there should be no other administrators before her. 🙂
Bibles are allowed in the school where I teach, provided the students aren’t reading them in class when they are supposed to be doing other work.
I’m curious. In which state is this school?
The state is Georgia, I believe and the vice principal should be fired and confined to the Phantom Zone for all time ’cause by the way she reacted she just might be a vampire.
Not only was the girl reading silently by herself in her free time, but she is an honor student.
Recently, a coworker of mine complained that her daughter’s teacher had the NERVE to make an anecdotal reference to the creation story in Genesis. She promised me that she would keep a close eye on the situation and be sure to “take action” should such an egregious violation of her daughter’s rights happen again.
To which, I responded: what are you going to do when she starts literature classes? All the books in canon of literature reference the Bible or Christian or Jewish beliefs at some point or other and virtually all the most revered writers are all Catholic! In order to protect your daughter, you will have to get all those books banned or pull her out of literature altogether!
The way she reacted though, I think it is safe to say she would prefer her daughter to grow up completely culturally illiterate.
Apparently, this is the goal of too many educators these days.
Actually, Maryland. South Laurel, Md.
Mary-land. How wonderful.
Actually, I take it back. It doesn’t matter about the state, as I have returned from a weekend with relatives and am hearing bizarre stories from public schools here, too.
Halloween parties, costumes, etc. are now banned. I expected this, as many Christian churches in my town think it’s “Satan’s holiday”. So there’s a “Harvest Festival” instead. (Not that many of the children live on farms anymore.)
And next there’s Turkey Day. You know, the traditional time when the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Great Turkey for their great harvest. “Thanksgiving” is a no-no word, too.
I’ve managed to talk about the Virgin of Guadalupe, Navidad, and the Day of the Kings (Epiphany) during Spanish classes for years. (But students have the option not to take part in festivities.) But maybe that’ll come crashing to a halt soon, too.
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